


Home, Love, Family

by anyasromanov



Category: Anastasia - Flaherty/Ahrens/McNally
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-15 04:54:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18066962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anyasromanov/pseuds/anyasromanov





	Home, Love, Family

Anya let out a scream, throwing her covers away from her and running to the other side of the room.

So many voices. So many faces. 

She knew none of them.

But they still haunted her.

She let out a loud enough scream to wake Dmitry, but he probably wouldn't come. She had been distancing herself from him, not wanting to lose him, because that's what happened to everyone else she loved.

Regret filled her. Right now, she wanted him, she wanted him to hold her and tell her it would be okay.

She wasn't in the nightmare anymore, but the voices, the voices were still there.

"Everyone knows who they are," one of the voices spoke, that of a young boy. But she didn't.

She let out another scream, falling to the floor and cuddling herself into a ball as tears fell down her face.

Dmitry had heard her scream the first time, it had woken him from his sleep. He thought for a second to run into her room, but it was overpowered by the thought of her just rejecting him.

Then she screamed a second time and he couldn't help himself. 

Before he could even think, his legs were already carrying him to her room.

He opened the door and saw her crying on the floor and instantly ran to her side.

"Anya!"

The sobs coming from her were loud, and she was shaking, she just wanted the voices to stop.

"Anya, hey, it's okay, you were having a nightmare," he moved his hand to her back, startling her slightly as she lifted her head to look at him.

"You-you're here?" Her voice was a small shaky whisper, Dmitry nodded in response, taking his hand in hers and pulling her to stand up.

"The-the voices-" she let out a hysteric sob, leaning into his chest, gripping onto his tank top, "they keep coming back."

"Anya, it's okay, it was just a nightmare, they're only voices okay?"

He felt as her head moved up and down against his chest.

"Will you stay with me Dmitry?" There was a fear in her voice, and he was surprised by how she wanted him to be with her, she had barely spoken a word to him since they had arrived in Paris.

He didn't respond for a second. 

Anxiety was running through Anya's body, she just wanted him to say.

"Please, I'm frightened."

He took her hand and pulled her along with him to sit on the bed.

She was slightly relieved he wasn't leaving, but anxiety was still overwhelming her.

"Who do you think I am Dmitry?" The words seemed to fall out before she could even think them and Dmitry didn't know how to reply.

He so wanted her to be Anastasia, he wanted to believe, he wanted her to be the girl he had seen when he was ten, he wanted to reunite her with her Nana, as long as it all meant she was happy.

But he didn't want to get her hopes up, tell her he believes she was Anastasia when she may not be.

When he looked at her he saw the fear that filled her eyes. That was the one thing that ashured him she was a Romanov. She had the eyes.

"If I were the Dowager Empress, I would want you to be Anastasia?"

"You would?" She was looking for reassurance in him. He had never seen her this vulnerable before and she had never allowed herself to be this vulnerable to anyone before.

"I would want her to be a beautiful, strong, intelligent, young woman."

"Is that what you think I am?" Her words were spoken quickly, she kept rushing, speaking almost instantly as his final word left his mouth.

"I do."

She didn't respond this time, a small smile grew on her face though. Maybe he did feel the same way she did. Maybe.

"Thank you."

He moved his hand away from hers and distanced himself slightly, the air between them had grown awkward.

She went cold when he moved away, only then did she realise how warm and comforting he was.

"I began to wonder if you were ever going to pay me a compliment." She laughed nervously and he rolled his eyes giving out a small laugh.

He complimented her all the time. She was so beautiful, so strong, so perfect in every single way. The while her smile radiated and the way her eyes lit up when she smiled. He'd always thought those things- but had he actually ever said it out loud?

He faced her again for a brief second and he saw it, in front of him was a girl, the most vulnerable he had ever seen her, trying to find comfort in him, trying to confide in him, trying to open up to him.

"Do you really think I might be her?" She only wanted to know if he believed it, she didn't care what anyone else thought, but did he believe that she - Anya - was the Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov?

"I want to believe you're the little girl I saw all those years ago."

"I don't understand-"

He took a deep breath, "I still remember to this day, exactly how it went," he let out another small laugh, smirking slightly, "It was June and I was ten. The streets of St Petersburg were filled with people, cheering, as the Romanov's came down the streets for the parade. I remember how hot it was, it was the hottest day it had been in a long time, I was surprised and how dressed up all the girls were in the carriage, all in their infamous white dresses. 

"I couldn't see very well, so I fought my way through the crowd of thousands to get to the edge of the street. Then I saw her, she was only eight, but sitting there, so proud, so serene. The crowd was going crazy, but I, I just couldn't help but stare. I started to run after the carriage, calling out her name, people kept trying to push past, but I was determined to chase after her, to try and get her to notice me. I reached out with my hand, looked up and she smiled back at me. 

"The parade kept going, but with the sun in my eyes, when I looked back, she was gone, but I know if I were still ten, in a crowd of thousands, I'd find her again."

"You're making me feel I was there too."

He noticed he had walked across the room while telling the story, he felt as if he was at the parade once again, he turned to Anya and he saw the girl. He was sure she was Anastasia, he wanted - needed - her to be Anastasia, and not just for the little scam anymore. He didn't care about that anymore.

"Maybe you were," he walked back over to the bed, standing at the foot of it instead of sitting next to her, "make it a part of your story."

"A parade?" She looked over to him, looking for further reassurance, she was evidently, Dmitry nodded and repeated her words.

"It was hot, really hot," she giggled slightly and he looked at her with admiration, "the sky was so blue, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and then there was a boy, he caught my eye, despite there being a crowd of thousands. He was the only one I could see." 

Dmitry moved so he was now sitting next to her.

"He was thin, and not too clean." She closed the distance between them, sitting right next to him, the bare skin on their arms touching. If she was any closer she would've been sitting on his lap.

"Hey!" Dmitry was slightly offended by the side comment, but it was true, but you can't expect much from a street rat.

"And, there were guards, holding back the crowd, there were so many people they were worried someone might get too close, but the boy, he dodged in between. He made himself seen.

Then I heard him, he was calling my name, and then he started to chase the carriage and I tried so hard not to smile, we were told not to smile, I knew I would get in trouble if I did but I smiled and then-" she paused for a second, as if she was putting together the pieces of a puzzle, grasping onto the memory, reaching out, and then it all came back, "and then he bowed."

A small gasp escaped her as she turned to face Dmitry, the boy from the parade.

"I- I didn't tell you that." His voice was shaky, she knew what had happened. She was Anastasia.

"You didn't have to-" a smile formed on her face, "I remember."

Anya ran over to Dmitry and he grabbed her into an embrace, holding her close.

He grabbed her hands and looked into her eyes, her deep blue Romanov eyes and started to lean closer to her. He could kiss her right now but- no. She's Anastasia Romanov.

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanov.

She had leaned up to him as well, but this felt wrong to Dmitry. Well, not wrong, but she deserved better than him. She deserved better than a con man.

He quickly pulled away and Anya - Anastasia - looked at him in disbelief. She was slightly hurt, she couldn't think why he had pulled away but then he bowed.

He was bowing for her. Something he had only ever done once in his life before, to her, when he was ten.

"Your Highness."

She didn't know what to say, she did find it funny that although he tried, he had addressed her wrong.

"Dmitry-"

He lifted his head and looked up at her.

"Stand up, please, you don't have to do that." He listened to her.

She'd lost him. This is what she had feared.

But she lost him in a different way, not through death, as she had lost the rest of her family, but through a title.

She sat on the bed as silence screamed through the room.

Everything came back, little Alexei, every time he was ill, Maria, oh her dear Maria, how they would run around together and how everyone called them 'the little pair'. She remembered 'the big pair' - Olga and Tatiana. Her first ball, where her Papa would dance with her every year. Her Mama, oh how she loved her Mama, she was never the favourite - that was Tatiana - but she was Nana's favourite and- the music box.

It all came back and then the memories she didn't want to ever remember came back. That night, all of her family-

Tears began to fall down her face.

Only when she looked up she realised Dmitry had started walking towards the door.

He couldn't stay there. There was too much between the two of them.

He opened the door, but a whisper made him turn around. He wasn't sure what he had heard, but when he saw she'd moved to standing in front of the bed, looking directly at him, he knew he had heard correctly.

"Don't leave me as well, everyone I love leaves."

He stood at the door, he didn't move, just turned to face her.

"Please don't leave me as well."

"Anya- Anastasia I-"

"I can't lose you too Dima."

He shut the door and started to walk away from it.

He walked closer to Anya - Anastasia - and opened his arms to her, she over to him, wrapping her arms around him and almost breaking down in tears as she did.

"I remember everything- I remember it all Dima."

"It's okay, you're safe, you don't need to worry." He tightened his grip on her pulling her close.

"Will you stay with me, tonight, please?" He didn't respond for a second, it took her saying please in a quiet voice one more time for him to agree.

He pulled her away from the embrace and took her hand and walked over to the bed. She didn't let any distance come between them for more than a second. Overwhelmed with all the emotions she had felt tonight.

When she lay in the bed she moved herself as close as she could to Dmitry, resting her head on his chest, it was comforting to hear his heartbeat, and he was so warm.

He felt like home.

Then a realisation hit her, this whole time she had been looking for her home, for love, for her family.

Maybe she found it the day she walked into the theatre.

Maybe she had found it as soon as she had met Dmitry because he was, she was sure, her home, her love and her family.


End file.
